Australia’s former foreign minister and New South Wales premier, Bob Carr, says he intends to sue New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, for allegations made about Carr’s closeness to China as debate about Aukus ramps up.
Peters called Carr “nothing more than a Chinese puppet” on the national broadcaster RNZ on Thursday morning.
New Zealand is considering whether it should involve itself in pillar two of the military pact between Australia, the UK and the US, which involves developing and sharing advanced technologies. New Zealand has not been offered the chance to join pillar one – nor would it accept, due to its anti-nuclear position.
Debate has been mounting as to whether it should join the pact, which China – the country’s largest trading partner – views as hostile.
Carr shared his criticisms of the pact on a visit to Wellington in April, calling it “bullshit” and saying he admired New Zealand foreign policy as it wasn’t as “gullible to the Americans” as Australia’s.
In a speech to parliament on Wednesday evening, Peters, who is also the foreign affairs minister, said New Zealand was still “a long way” from joining pillar two, in part because it had not yet been invited to do so.
Peters followed up with a round of interviews on Thursday morning in which he was asked about Carr’s criticism, then launched an extraordinary broadside.
“What on earth does he think he’s doing walking into our country and telling us what to do?” Peters told RNZ. “We would no more do that in Australia than he should do here. That’s the kind of arrogance we don’t like.”
Peters called Carr “nothing more than a Chinese puppet” before suggesting even further alignment in comments RNZ later removed from its clip of the interview.
In statement to the Post, Carr said these comments were “entirely defamatory” and he would be taking legal action.
In a statement to the Guardian, Peters’ office said the minister would respond to queries about Carr’s threats of legal action “if [Peters] receives formal notification of any such action”.
The former New Zealand primeminister Helen Clark, who spoke alongside Carr at the Labour-aligned, anti-Aukus conference in April, told RNZ Peters had “seriously defamed” Carr.
The Labour leader, Chris Hipkins, has called on the prime minister, Christopher Luxon, to stand Peters down. “The allegations that he made against Bob Carr, a senior and well-respected politician, are totally unacceptable,” Hipkins told media.
“The fact you have Bob Carr taking defamation action is embarrassing for New Zealand, it shows Winston Peters has abused his office. He should stand Winston Peters down immediately.”
Responding to Hipkins’ comments, Luxon said Carr – an experienced politician – should understand the “rough and tumble of politics”. Peters was doing an “exceptionally good job” as foreign minister, he said, and the comments posed no diplomatic risk.
Carr led the Australia China Relations Institute at the University of Technology in Sydney from 2014 to 2019 after his departure from politics.
Speaking to Australian Associated Press in Wellington in April, Carr said he was not blind to China’s misdeeds. “Australia is entitled to challenge China, to press back against China’s influence-building in the South Pacific,” he said.
“I’ve criticised China for militarising artificial structures in the South China Sea. I believe the extinction of legal autonomy for Hong Kong was wrong.
“I’ve always said Australia and other partners of China are entitled to press human rights and make specific reference to Tibet and Xinjiang province and the Uyghurs.
“No one’s ever advocating that we not talk about deterrence, where it’s required to maintain an honourable balance of power in Asia.
“But I’ve made very clear my reservations about Aukus. A$368bn is the biggest transfer of wealth outside of Australia that has ever happened in our history.”